


Perform Your Duty

by Vipersweb (Rhianona)



Category: Stargate SG-1, Torchwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-02-23
Updated: 2008-02-23
Packaged: 2017-10-10 12:46:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/99935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhianona/pseuds/Vipersweb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ianto Jones always answers the call of duty... even when it leads to certain death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perform Your Duty

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: [Insert witty comment here] SG-1 and Torchwood do not belong to me.
> 
> AU version of the Ori war, involving TW. A comment fic

Daniel glances over at their temporary teammate. Vala's loss still aches sharply in his chest and he's almost numb after all that has happened in the last months. The Ori are here on Earth despite everything the SGC had thrown at them. SG-1 had heard through the underground that Torchwood had a weapon that could take out the ship currently orbiting the planet. Vala had been killed en route to Cardiff.

Her loss meant they were one team member down and they really needed a four person team – Sam was still in Atlantis – had been ordered in fact to stay away from Earth completely. The problem was that this was a suicide mission in all but name. Cam had had the misfortune of having to inform Captain Harkness of their need.

_Flashback_ "With Vala… dead, we need one more if we're going to have any chance of destroying that Ori ship." He locked eyes with the Captain, who slowly nodded, his arms folded.

"So one of ours," he commented.

Daniel watched as the Torchwood team avoided looking at each other in they eye – sidelong glances only. Interestingly they kept moving between the Captain and the young archivist, Ianto Jones. Ianto met the Captain's eyes. Daniel saw anger, resentment, hurt, and resignation flash through his blue eyes, before, with a bitter twist of a smile, he said, "I see. Of course Captain." Standing from his chair, he turned towards SG-1. "Excuse me while I gather the appropriate gear. I shan't be overly long."

The pretty technician - _Toshiko_ Daniel's mind supplied - choked back a gasp, throwing a glare at the Captain before hurrying out to follow Ianto. The doctor shook his head as he stared at the Captain. "You're a right bastard Jack."

Daniel thought it interesting that the only ones not to say anything were the Captain and the former police officer, Gwen. The air was thick with tension, the Torchwood team clearly unhappy with the decision and SG-1 hating to ask but needing that additional person. It wasn't relieved when Ianto reappeared, fully outfitted, the change from suit to casual clothes so different. He paused to give the doctor a handshake and a quiet word. Toshiko received a hug and more words. He didn't make a move towards the Captain or Gwen, instead moving towards Cam. "I'm ready when you are sir." Daniel thought it interesting that the Captain flinched at the words.

"Ianto…" he said into the silence. Beyond the stiffening of the shoulders, Ianto didn't move. Cam looked at Daniel and Teal'c before shrugging. They needed to go.

"All right. Let's go," Cam ordered, Teal'c taking the packaged weapon in hand and shifting it to his back. Teal'c lead the way, followed by Ianto and then Daniel. Cam stood in the doorway for a moment. "Thanks." He hesitated as if he wanted to say something more to the devastated group of people sitting in the room. He sighed and shook his head. "Thanks," he said again and turns and joins the others waiting for him.

And so now Daniel finds himself looking at Ianto who sits with a gun in his lap, keeping watch before they make their move. Teal'c and Cam have gone to scout the area ahead of them before they move out. Where once his mind never stopped working, looking for solutions and questions and answers, he finds it very hard to focus on anything but what is ahead of them. It's not that he's given up hope but that he doesn't see any. He's been going through the Stargate for over a decade and some time ago, he resigned himself to dieing because of it. He thinks that this time, death will be permanent and he can't help but be slightly pleased by that thought.

"Why?" Daniel abruptly asks, wanting to know why Ianto came with them without protesting.

"It's my duty sir."

"But surely someone else?" It's not that Daniel doesn't think Ianto can do the task he must, it's that he's young and less comfortable with a weapon than anyone else at Torchwood – that had been more than clear in the way he handled the weapons in the skirmish that had taken Vala's life.

Ianto looks at him silently. "I am the tea boy sir. Owen is a doctor and that is needed. Tosh is the tech person – she can't be spared. Jack… Jack can't leave the Hub, he's needed to coordinate after… well after." He pauses for a moment. "That leaves Gwen and Jack won't allow her hurt, not when he can prevent it."

"But… why?"

"Jack needs Gwen to remind him of humanity."

Daniel blinked. His reasoning was so… completely illogical. "I don't understand."

"Torchwood recruited me straight from University. Helped fund my Ph.D and Masters. I suppose they don't matter now – never got to finish the dissertation. At any rate, I've worked for Torchwood for the entirety of my adult life – I am a product of it. I've survived… so much. One of 27 to survive Canary Wharf. Jack took me in after that. But you see, he didn't take me for my humanity – in his eyes, I lost that years ago. But when Gwen started, she was so innocent and believed in the world and that we could make a differed. So empathic. He needs that. He needs a doctor and a tech. He doesn't need a tea boy or an archivist." So simple in laying out the truth – as he perceived it. Didn't matter that Jack shagged him senseless more nights than not. When it came down to it, Ianto would always lose to Gwen and he knew it. He smiled at Daniel. "This I can do though. My duty and in performing my duty, I get to save the world. And that can't be bad."

Before Daniel could reply, Cam and Teal'c came back. "It's time." Ianto nodded, shouldering his pack without question and following Teal'c out into the darkness. Daniel followed suit, Ianto's words echoing in his mind. "For duty…"

"Duty?"

"Yes. For Queen and Country." Bitterness twists his face, belying the calm expression. Ianto turns deadened blue eyes towards Daniel. "Torchwood has asked me to do my duty and I shan't fail."

**Author's Note:**

> This falls into a possible apocalypse-fic idea I've had involving the Ori war. There are issues with this as it is, in part because I think the characterizations are a bit off -- I was going through an anti-Jack Harkness phase at the time -- and I'm not really sure where I want to go with this. but... it is still the kernel of an idea, that may, one day, be written.


End file.
